College students still need help from parents, writer sees chance to end stigma

By Norie Young

I’ve often heard older adults criticize college students who still depend on their parents, especially those like me who still live at home. They recount stories of how they were completely autonomous after high school ended. 

These accounts usually come wrapped in a tone of pity for those of us who do not yet know this feeling of accomplishment. 

It’s somehow assumed that if you’re not totally independent, you must have no idea how to take care of yourself, but it’s actually the exact opposite.

I think today’s college student is acutely more aware of how to be independent and what it takes to achieve that independence. For the vast majority, the price is too high. The generations before us went to college in a different time with a different economy. It wasn’t a cake walk, but no one can deny that it’s much harder now. 

Even those who live off campus are still getting a helping hand from their parents. 

Mass communication major Kalene McDonnell lives in a house off campus with roommates, but her parents pay for the rent. “I made a deal with them that if I got all the scholarships, good grades and behaved they would help pay for schooling,” she said. 

But McDonnell is determined to take over the majority of the bills before she graduates.

The burden of college debt is something I’ve feared since high school. Living on campus increases that debt substantially. I flinch when friends tell me how much they pay to live in Courtyard per semester. That may be worth it to those who really want the experience of living on campus. 

It’s a necessity for those who do not live close enough to campus, but not for all of us. Allison Raper still lives at home as well. “I decided to continue to live at home because I wanted to be comfortable in college,” said the History major, “Living off campus has saved money, which was very important because I plan on going to graduate school.”

When asked what she thought about the belief that college students should be completely independent, mass communication major Krysta Alasabbah was amused. “I think that’s a lie because a lot of people who go to college are still dependent on their parents, even if you’re just going home on the weekends to do your laundry,” she said 

The range of parental assistance varies from those still living at home to those who still depend on their parents to pay minor or major bills. It’s a very rare person who can juggle their course load, job and bills. 

Many students freely admit that they could not make it without their parents because they know they can’t afford it. 

I propose we take the negative stigma out of being dependent. 

The choice we made to come to college took some degree of mature thought, which included figuring how we were going to pay for it. 

There should be no guilt in listing our parents among our assets to do this.